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Under the Janani Suraksha Yojana in Bihar, every woman who gives birth , is granted Rs 1000/-. In direct defiance of the laws on nature, 298 women in Bihar, claim to have given birth to 2 to 5 children within 60 days. The CAG of Bihar has highlighted this after noting that 6.6 lakhs were paid to these 298 women. with the districts of Bhagalpur, East Champaran, Gopalganj, Kishanganj and Nalanda leading the scam.

Incentives were paid 2 to 5 times in 60 days to these women by the officials. While lactating mothers suffered, out of 470,307 new mothers, 97,146 were not provided cash incentives for want of funds. Also, payment of Rs.25.19 crore to 1.8 lakh beneficiaries were made after a delay ranging between eight and 732 days.

Cow fodder payment is quick. Others can go to hell.

Panchayat elections in over 580 villages in Pune district are to be held this week. Many of the candidates are facing unexpected problems due to the unfamiliar and sometimes hilarious election symbols allotted to them.

“One of the candidates in our village is a wrestler and the symbol he’s got is that of a baby’s frock. He finds it really difficult to promote something so contradictory to his image and personality,” says Sachin Kamthe, who is also contesting.

"One of the leaders has been appealing to the masses to use a pair of scissors to cut his opponent to size as the opponent’s symbol is a pair of scissors." says Ashok Bajare of Peth.

Candidates complain that some symbols - such as cake, battery, bread and piano - don’t connect with the villagers.

The Election Commission has declined to change the symbols.

With the Commonwealth Games coming up, naturally there will be talk about medals , or, the lack of them. Already the emphasis is on how the Games village is better than Beijing's.

And of course Sania and Saina.

If the Chairman and heads of various games looked around they would find so many "hidden" talents in sports, say, as in shot put.

They create a Sports Authority and then act stingy with resources or misuse them. Athletes from rural areas and the hinterland go through immense trouble because of lack of infrastructure and facilities, while there is a blatant disregard for how budgeted funds are being actually utilised.

Here's a new source. Already with infrastructure, political power, and money.

Shot put comes to mind...

Watch this .

Last month, India was admitted as the 34th member of The Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The FATF is an inter-governmental organisation founded in 1989 by the G7 concerned with developing policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

The FATF has identified fund transfers from foreign Non Profit Organisations (NPOs), counterfeiting of currency, drug trafficking and extortion as "major sources for terrorist financing" in India.

Most NPOs (what we generally call NGOs) in India are subject to limited or no monitoring and supervision.

Several laws have been formulated in recent years, to monitor and counter terror funds and money laundering. However, there have been no money laundering convictions under these laws till date.

The FATF report commented upon the misplaced confidence of Indian officials regarding the low risk of NPOs being used as conduits for terrorist financing.

Misplaced confidence or wilful blindness?

I admit that I do not follow the game as much as I follow, say, Football, despite the fact that I used to play daily with my friends, long ago. I do not even know who the World’s best are - except one.


There was a time when I did regret that Mr.Padukone’s beautiful daughter chose Bollywood over her father’s profession. But then, all is well that is progressing well, and we have a champion on our soil.


We have seen other shooting stars appear and fizzle out, and at each appearance, we pray that it does not vanish. Something tells me this one will stay. At the top.


Though the fact that the news found a place in the Sports page only was dampening, I still feel happy and proud that Saina has made it to World No.2 spot.

Sometime in the year 2005.
Some of us may remember a gentleman by the name..KULDEEP SINGH.
Some may call him a hero.
Some may have forgotten him.
Some may have decided not to remember him.
Some of us may want to know who he is.
Well he is the same DTC driver who saved lives of more than 50Delhi citizens in oct 2005.
This brave man threw the bomb out of the bus.
He has lost his eyesight, lost fingers of his right hand, hearing impaired. He needs support to walk.
What was he promised is not important. He has no money for treatment. All he has is assurances from CM Ms Dixit, assurances from DTC Only thing he did not have was money to pay his medical bills.
Who cares.
If it was a case involving a political opportunity, a number of NGOs would have jumped into score points.
For political class, it is time to wake up.
KULDEEP SINGH is still waiting and has not seen his son who was born immediately after the incident.
He is still waiting and hoping he will one day see his son.

Ajit Balaji Joshi, then Additional Deputy Commissioner in Jhajjar Dist., Haryana, set up the first bhatta shala (brick-kiln-school) in December, 2006. Since then 359 such bhatta shalas have been set up in Haryana.

The brick kiln workers in Jhajjar and Sonepat districts of Haryana come from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in December and stay for six months. So these seasonal schools- set up so that the children of these workers do not miss out on an education- run for six months every year.

Initially, schools in several states refused to accept the certificates that the bhatta shalas issued. But they are now accepted by the home states of the children, and they continue their studies when they go back home for the rest of the year.

In 2008, Ajit Joshi received the Distinguished Service Award from former President APJ Abdul Kalam for his work on the bhatta shalas.

Ever since some lady in Gujarat created a thousand demat accounts for herself and messed around speculating in securities, agencies doing demat have been strict demanding address, identity , and PAN card proofs.

Turns out that an old , prestgious, private religious trust , Ganpati Panchayatam Sansthan, of Sangli , (erstwhile royal Patwardhan family) has got PAN cards issued in the names of the various deities. The NSDL has refused to open demat accounts for Lord Ganesh, Chintamaneshwardev, Chintamaneshwaridevi, Suryanarayandev and Laxminarayandev.

Courts have earlier allowed holdings in demat accounts for deities, and this matter is now in court.

Given the vast number of old deities in Pune with a very public face, stay tuned for address and identity proofs demanded from Khunya Murlidhar, PatryaMaruti, Jilbya Maruti, Hatti Ganpati, and an NSDL litigating with all of them.

God help NSDL!

The Committee (Salaries and Allowances of MPs) has considered the issue of providing virtually free 3G facility provided by MTNL/BSNL to MPs.

It has also recommended a hike in the monthly salary of MPs from Rs 16,000 to Rs 80,001. The government is likely to introduce a bill regarding it in the Monsoon session of Parliament.

Meanwhile, no arrests in the Mumbai train blasts case. Rajesh Jha who suffered explosive shrapnel in his spinal column has left him 83 per cent handicapped. Despite pain and problems, he studied and stood first in the Mumbai University in M.Com examination.Corrective surgery will cost him a prohibitive 16 lakhs, which he does not have.

Mahesh Dwivedi lost hearing in the left ear in the blasts, is denied compensation (classified as 30% handicapped!) and has lost his job.

100% shame for MP's....

While the Golden Quadrilateral happens, Bihar has discovered roads.

Madhav Singh, 82, lives in Alwalpur village, 12 kilometres outside Patna. Till 3 years ago, he walked 3 kilometres to catch a bus for Patna. In the monsoon, he waded chest deep through water , and crossed the flooded Punpun river by boat, to catch the bus. Today thanks to the new government's schemes, there is a pucca motorable road to his doorstep.

In 2005 , funds earmarked for roads were Rs.594.73 crore, while what was used was only Rs.263.23 crore. All the while, Lalu kept promising roads as smooth as Hema Malini's cheeks. Today, outlay and expenditure are evenly matched at Rs.3045.65 and Rs.3045.03, respectively.

Amazingly, in the past four years alone, the state has laid over 25 percent of the road network added since independence

Ordinary mortals struggling with paperwork , forms and permissions at least know why they are doing what they are doing.

Udai Narain Chowdhary, speaker of the Bihar Assembly, went as a delegate on the Parliament Speaker's trip to Swaziland, Africa. Parliament Speaker, Meira Kumar, daughter of late Jagjivan Ram, is a former diplomat , and carried with her a photo of her father with the Swaziland King's grandfather, as a gesture of respect and friendship.

Chowdhary was alarmed to notice that he had arrived in Swaziland instead of Switzerland, which is why he had used his clout to find a place on the trip, in the first place. Meira Kumar told him this was the Switzerland of Africa...

Do politicians look at what they sign ? Visa forms ? Laws ? Cheques ?

A schoolboy would have been failed for this.....